Restoration costs-how do you decide?

Post by **miggy** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:56 pm

I bought a 1970 traveller last month, I paid just over £1000, it had an insurance valuation last year of £2000. It has obviously been maintained (but fairly minimally). It seems a good runner and has useful additions such as seatbelts. It was apperently restored/overhauled 12 yrs ago at a morris centre.
Issue is that although the backdoors are new (2yrs) the wood on the frame is not as sound as I thought it was and is rotten to the point that the top door hinge is pulling out of the frame. This obv needs urgent attention and really I think the frame will need replacing.
It needs I think 2 new doors (rust on bottoms) pos a new wing (rust again) and the interior is scruffy.
Question is do I press on and get all this done (bearing in mind that I will have to get a garage to do it all due to toatl lack of any skills in this household!) or am I chucking money away and should I jusy buy a more decent one and sell this one to someone up for a project?

Post by **ASL642** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 2:30 pm

Hi miggy, welcome to the site!

The back doors are roughly £100 each - and depending upon the state of the aluminium insert panels these can be reused. repair sections are available from morris minor suppliers and the doors would be repairable. If you post up some pictures we will have a look and advise you further.( Use the upload picture below your post to do this if it helps.) Seems a shame to change the car for this. Also if you post where you are someone on this board may be able to have a look.

Post by **miggy** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:11 pm

Sorry my question was a bit garbled! The back doors are fine, its the timber frame on the car thats the issue (about £2k I think?). When I referred to doors I meant the front doors-they are quite rusty on the bottom

I am in east sussex nr lewes. I have actually phoned Woodies in chichester today, the guy was lovely and has said he will drop in on his way past delivering wood and have a look and give me some ideas

Think Im just getting a bit stressed about what to do in what order and at what point it becomes uneconomical!
Will try and get some pics-thank you

Post by **aupickup** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:34 pm

well if the car is structually sound then restore i would say

pm me for a firm in pevensy east sussex that did my car

Post by **PSL184** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:42 pm

miggy. The wood on Travellers scares me and I believe it is quite difficult and time consuming to replace, however, individual pieces can be bought so this might keep costs down. From the rest of your description you could easily bolt on a new wing yourself ( costs about £60.00 per wing) and doors can be picked up secondhand (£50 - £100) or have repair panels fitted (£20 for panel + fitting costs). After this you would probably have to factor in a respray, approx £1000 - £1500 for a good quality job. To completely renew the seat coverings and carpet will cost about £400 with off the shelf parts. A lot of this work is easy and YOU CAN do it yourself to save money. A condition 1 traveller (which yours would then fall into this category) is worth around £5000. So you just need to work out the total cost and see if it exceeds £5k to make it economically viable. HTH.....

Post by **miggy** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:10 pm

heres some pics-hopefully

general car

falling out hinge

worst bit of rust-corner of front wing (only real rust on bodywork apart from a little same place other side)

bottom of door (only one front door affected)

bit closer gen woodwork

Post by **PSL184** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:28 pm

Looks like a good buy for £1000. I'm looking for one at the moment and can't find anything that looks nearly as good. The rust can be repaired with just local repairs and paint, so shouldn't cost too much. Guess at around £500 ish and from the looks of the pictures you could get away with just replacing the rear uprights on the wood. I wouldn't think that would cost much more than £500 either and that is garage prices! Go for it - it will make a really nice car when you've finished for a very reasonable outlay.

Post by **d_harris** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 6:19 pm

Get yourself a set of spanners and get tinkering! Theres nothing too major there

Post by **mike.perry** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:17 pm

And stop that dog peeing on the back wheel. Its turning it brown

Post by **PSL184** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:25 pm

mike.perry wrote:And stop that dog peeing on the back wheel. Its turning it brown

There's always one

Post by **bmcecosse** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:18 pm

Looks like complete wood replacement required - and door skins and lower panels. Quite a work load! I have to say - £1000 was a LOT for the car in that condition! Did you not see the state of the wood before buying ?

Post by **pskipper** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:23 pm

(Market value + Love of car) / cost of repairs = restorability

Although Lynda suggests...

Market value ^ Love of car / cost of repairs = go ahead anyway

Post by **aupickup** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:33 pm

have a heart bmc

Post by **ASL642** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:49 pm

I had the same problem with my doors. The bottom was cut off and a new lower repair panel welded into place. Layer of filler,sanded back and repainted. Have it done properly and you'd never know. Cost £100 per door + VAT. The rear door pillar can be replaced, but it will mean that the roof/guttering has to be removed.

It depends how attached you have become to her. Do it slowly and have it done well and you will end up with a good sturdy car which will last.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 9:27 pm

Sorry to be blunt - but can't see the point in fudging round about it! Some of the wood appears to have been patched up before - and a good bit of it now needs replacing. The wood is structural - not just for show. What condition is the underside of the car ? That will be the deciding factor.

Post by **jonathon** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:03 pm

I tend to agree with BM here. A mint traveller will only fetch £6K on the open private market. If you decide to professionally restore this particular traveller, excluding any welding underneath then, you will spend the best part of £4K plus Vat, which inc your purchase price will be not to far from its maximum potential value. If you do it yourself then you might learn new skills but will need to purchase equipment etc and you will probably have the car off the road for most of the year.
To buy a Minor that needs restoring and hoping to make a profit on it is pure folly. A restoration (proper) will usuallyfar exceed the value of the finished car, so really you are doing it for the long term (minimum 5 years of ownership) by which time the cost will have evened itself out. or for the love of the car.
The best way to buy a Minor is to purchase a restored one with a good provenance of receipts and photos. This will naturally cost more but should mean that you do not put yourself through this trauma of having spent serious money only to find that you need to spend much ,much more, and in the mean time you do not have a Minor to drive.
You can of course do the work yourself, but you have stated that you do not have the required skills, which as I said before will mean that the car is of the road for much longer than you imagine, and this assumes that you are able to learn these skills, which unfortunately is by no means guaranteed.
Sorry

Post by **stiguk** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:37 pm

i would never do a resturation to make money it never works
u will allways lose money most times
or is it just me that loses money
lolol

Post by **bmcecosse** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:40 pm

Post by **miggy** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:50 pm

Im not interested in making a profit, I just dont want to spend 10k if I can buy similar for 5K!
If I do the work-I will keep the car. Am looking to have something I can use a few times a week and enjoy-thats safe and not falling apart.
I will see what Mr Woodies has to say next week. Am hoping he will say that we can spend £3K and get a decent car, if not then

"Looks like complete wood replacement required - and door skins and lower panels. Quite a work load! I have to say - £1000 was a LOT for the car in that condition! Did you not see the state of the wood before buying ?"
Is a tad harsh-some of us arent as clued up on the nature of the beast as others and I was asking for advice not moaning that I had bought a lemon!

Post by **stiguk** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:51 pm

i would do a Restoration for fun not
to make money